The Moon-Riddle from the Past
月球—來(lái)自遠(yuǎn)古之謎
1. Spacecraft from the United States and from Russia have been to the moon, and men have walked upon its surface. Rock and soil samples and information of many other kinds have become available in recent years. Yet with all we know about the moon, there is even more that we don't know.
1、美國(guó)和俄國(guó)的宇宙飛船都已經(jīng)到達(dá)過(guò)月球，而且人類也在它的表面上行走過(guò)。月球上的巖石和土壤的樣本，以及許多其它類型的信息，近些年來(lái)已經(jīng)為人們所知所用了。然而除了我們所知道的關(guān)于月球的那些外，還有更多是我們不知道的。
2. Following the end of the Apollo space program, the National Geographic Society published an excellent set of articles about the moon. Here, in shorter form, are some questions and answers from one of these articles. For the full story, see the September, 1973, issue of National Geographic.
2、在阿波羅太空計(jì)劃結(jié)束后，國(guó)家地理協(xié)會(huì)出版了一組有關(guān)月球的極好文章。這里，以簡(jiǎn)短的形式截取了其中一篇文章重的部分問(wèn)答。完整的內(nèi)容，請(qǐng)見1973年九月發(fā)行的《國(guó)家地理》。
Were scientists right about what the moon would be like?
科學(xué)家關(guān)于“月球外貌”的描述是正確的嗎？
3. Many were, of course, but many were mistaken. One said there was no lava on the moon. Another said that the moon material would explode as soon as an astronaut's boot touched it. One said there would certainly be water on the moon. Many felt there was a chance that the astronauts could bring back to earth some strange infection. These ideas are now known to be incorrect, and no doubt we are still wrong about many other things, also.
3、大多數(shù)是正確的，當(dāng)然，也有相當(dāng)部分是錯(cuò)誤的。一個(gè)說(shuō)法是月球上沒(méi)有熔巖。另外一個(gè)說(shuō)法是宇航員的靴子一旦碰上月球物質(zhì)就會(huì)爆炸。有人說(shuō)月球確實(shí)存在水。許多人還認(rèn)為宇航員有可能把某些奇怪的傳染病菌帶回地球。這些說(shuō)法現(xiàn)在被證明都是不正確的，無(wú)疑，我們關(guān)于月球的許多其它的看法是錯(cuò)誤的。
Is the moon like the earth?
月球像地球嗎？
4. Yes and no. It is more like it than many scientists thought before Apollo. Like the earth, the moon is in layers, with a crust on the outside and a deep mantle below. It may also have a core, as the earth does. However, the crust is almost four times thicker than the earth's crust. We do not know much yet about the moon's mantle, that section of superheated rock which goes down hundreds of miles below the crust. We think-but we are not sure-that the moon has a center core which includes molten rock, as the earth does.
4、答案是，像也不像。月球比科學(xué)家在阿波羅計(jì)劃之前想象的還要像地球。如同地球一樣，月球上有地層，表面是一層地殼，其下是很深的地幔。月球也可能如同地球一樣有一個(gè)地核。然而，月球地殼幾乎是地球地殼厚度的四倍。我們對(duì)月球地幔所知不多，那些過(guò)熱的巖石在外殼幾百英里以下。我們預(yù)料，但是我們不能確定，月球有一個(gè)由熔巖構(gòu)成的地核，如同地球。
5. In other ways, of course, the moon is very different. There is no life, and there is no water. The makeup of its atmosphere is very different; the earth creatures cannot breathe in it.
5、在其它的方面，當(dāng)然，月球非常不同。它沒(méi)有生命，沒(méi)有水。它的大氣的構(gòu)成也非常不同，地球生物在那里不能呼吸。
Of what is the moon made?
月球是由什么構(gòu)成的？
6. Definitely not green cheese. It has the same chemical elements as have the earth and the rest of the solar system but in very different amounts-more of some, less of others. Carbon, which is a very important part of living things on the earth, is rare on the moon.
6、很明顯不是綠色奶酪。月球有如同地球和其余太陽(yáng)系行星一樣的化學(xué)元素，但是其比率非常不同，某些多一點(diǎn)，其它少一些。碳是地球上生物的一個(gè)非常重要組成部分，在月球上非常稀少。
Is the moon hot or cold?
月球是酷熱的還是寒冷的？
7. Most scientists agree that some of the moon was hot for at least a time. Rocks from the moon show that they were once melted. Right now there seems to be heat someplace inside the moon, possibly a great deal of it. On the surface, however, there is no sign of heat-no volcano, for example. The surface itself ranges from heat of 230℉ to cold of minus 290℉,depending upon where the sun is.
7、大多數(shù)的科學(xué)家認(rèn)為月球的一部分至少在一個(gè)時(shí)期是熱的。來(lái)自月球的巖石表明它們?cè)?jīng)被融化。現(xiàn)在，似乎在月球內(nèi)部的某些地方仍處于高溫，也可能它是很大的一片地方，然而在表面上，沒(méi)有高溫的特征，例如沒(méi)有火山。月球表面溫度范圍從華氏正230度到華氏負(fù)290度，取決于太陽(yáng)在什么地方。
Where did the moon come from?
月球來(lái)自哪里呢？
8. We don't know. The three main theories （ideas） are （1） that the moon was born from the earth, （2） that the earth and the moon were born together at the same time from the same cloud of gas and dust, and （3） that the moon was born someplace else in the solar system and then captured by the earth's gravity. So far, none of these theories has been proved to be either right or wrong. Professor George W.Wetherill of the University of California in Los Angeles says that he would give the first two theories each a 10 percent chance and the third theory a 20 percent chance. The other 60 percent he would give to "things we haven't thought of yet."
8、我們不知道。主要存在著三個(gè)理論：（1）月球產(chǎn)生自地球，（2）地球和月球在同一時(shí)間從同一氣云和塵埃里同時(shí)產(chǎn)生，（3）月球是產(chǎn)生在太陽(yáng)系的其它某個(gè)地方，而后被地球的地心引力所捕獲。到現(xiàn)在為止，這些理論中沒(méi)有任何一個(gè)已經(jīng)被證明正確或錯(cuò)誤。洛杉磯加州大學(xué)的喬治教授說(shuō)，他認(rèn)為前兩個(gè)理論有百分之十的正確性，第三個(gè)理論有百分之二十的正確性，另外的百分之六十他將給“至今我們都還沒(méi)想到的事物”。
9. In spite of all we have learned from space flights, the moon is still a riddle from the distant past-and will be for a long time to come. Although we know much more now, we find that, somehow, for every answer new questions spring up.
9、盡管我們已經(jīng)從空間飛行中了解了一些，月球仍然是來(lái)自遙遠(yuǎn)過(guò)去的一個(gè)謎，而且仍將會(huì)在未來(lái)很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間如此。盡管我們現(xiàn)在比過(guò)去知道的更多，但是我們也發(fā)現(xiàn)，不知何故，每個(gè)新答案都會(huì)引發(fā)出更多的新問(wèn)題。
